Sugar Sugar
by NadiaBliss
Summary: Since there's no Halloween episode on Friday (or whatever day it's supposed to be airing on now) I thought I'd make up my own. Involves the whole group in a bottle-episode-esc situation, with a bit of Jeff/Annie goodness. Chapter 2 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Annie smoothed her hair and ran her hands down her costume. Admittedly, she was a bit nervous to see the reactions of her study group, but it was set in her mind and she was already here and already dressed.

Walking was a little more difficult than she had hoped, these were Britta's shoes after all, and the highest ones she'd ever walked in. She saw Troy and Abed looking jungle-esc draped in vines, jumping around the table and Annie's Boobs sitting on the table, tied to the leg. Jeff was lounging in his chair in a suit, Shirley was stuffed into her chair with what appeared to be a sheep attached to her and Pierce was dressed as a hippie in strangely, the most clear and understandable costume of the bunch.

"Woah."

"Oh, Annie!" Shirley's high pitched exclamation turned judgemental voice trailed off.

She felt all eyes on her for a moment too long but she took a deep breath and gave a cheery smile.

"Am I late?" She smiled, heading over to her spot.

"What are you wearing?" Jeff asked, looking gravely concerned.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm Sour Patch Kids … I thought it was pretty obvious," She motioned to her skin tight strapless green dress that looked exactly like a packet of the delicious candy. It was as short as her regular skirts but with heels on, even she thought it looked shorter. "What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm David Beckham," He spluttered, "Troy, where's my ball?"

"Annie's Boobs is playing with it," He said innocently and they looked over at the monkey who was now rolling around on the floor with a soccer ball. Jeff rolled his eyes, Annie saw, and looked very taken off guard.

"Weren't you David Beckham two years ago?" Annie asked, sitting down slowly and on an angle.

"Yeah, for the Halloween nobody can remember. This is my last Halloween here, I can't deprive everyone of this," He lazily gestured to his upper body. Annie had to admit, he looked _really_ good in a suit.

"What are you, Shirley? A … sheep?"

"A shepherd." Shirley corrected with a strained smile. "An-nie, isn't that "costume" a bit revealing?"

Jeff said nothing, and raised his eyebrows at her.

But Annie was prepared, she forced a smile even though she was herself beginning to wonder why this had seemed like such a good idea.

"You look great, Annie, you really do. With your face ... and stuff," Troy said, sitting down with the monkey on his knee, trying to get it to sit on his shoulder. "But what will Britta say?" He whispered.

"Oh, I don't think she'll mind." Annie smiled. "What are you two?"

"Mowgli, from the 1967 film version of The Jungle Book and I'm Lara Croft." Abed answered immediately. "We were going to be Thing One and Thing Two from Dr. Seuss' classic Cat and the Hat, but turns out Garrett is already Thing Two and we haven't spotted a Thing One anywhere yet."

"Can't have the same pair costume as another pair. It's just tacky." Troy explained and Abed nodded firmly. "So this is last minute 'jungle theme'," Troy explained. "Not bad for ten minutes at the drama department."

"And you'll get you a lot more girls by being shirtless with a monkey, than in a red onsie, Troy." Pierce nodded approvingly. "You and Annie have the right idea, this is what Halloween is all about. Aren't you going to ask what I am, Annie?"

"A hippy?"

Pierce wrinkled his face, "I'm a younger version of myself."

"So, a hippy." Jeff snapped.

"Annie, I'm sure Britta will mind." Shirley turned to her, "She does have an excellent point about strong women, even if her own clothing doesn't always make that clear. She has a point of view, at least, she hates when girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress all skimpy."

"I'm sure she _won't_ mind." Britta said and everyone turned to the door behind Jeff where she stood wearing an identical costume to Annie's, only instead of a bright green strapless, skin tight dress, she was wearing a bright pink one with a Swedish Berries logo. Looking mighty proud of herself for the entrance, she stood with one hand on her hip.

"Oh my god," Jeff rolled his eyes, "Did you talk her into this?" He asked, annoyed.

"No!" Britta walked to her seat but didn't sit. "Annie talked me into it." All eyes were on Annie once again, but Britta did the talking. "What's more empowering than a woman taking control of her own sexuality?" – Shirley winced – "Nothing. Why shouldn't we be able to show as much or as little of our bodies as we like? Men are stupid enough to let themselves be controlled and manipulated by a little skin."

"A little?" Jeff chortled.

"Men are gross and yes, if we _let _them, they would buy us drinks—"

"It's free punch,"

"—and do whatever we asked them to. But we won't. We are going to enjoy ourselves and pay no attention to the skeezy guys who _will_ try and make moves on us. They need to learn that we have all the power—"

"We already know that," Jeff sighed. "I fail to see how becoming the wet dream slash right hand of every guy who looks at you is empowering."

Annie gulped. She hadn't considered that. She hadn't realized … surely guys wouldn't think about her when they did _that_. It was a little to real and private for her to be comfortable thinking about.

"Who cares? We can't control other peoples' thoughts—"

"I do it all the time," said Jeff. "Didn't you see Inception?"

Troy's eyes widened and he became attentive, like his brain was working via his fingers which were moving and his eyes which were darting around lost in thought.

"Oh my gosh."Annie said quietly. "Jeff's right. The _only_ thing we control is our thoughts!"

"Annie, he just doesn't want you to wear it because he doesn't want any other guy looking at you." Britta said dismissively.

Jeff glared at Britta, "Not true." Then he turned to Annie, "Guys look at you all the time."

She rolled her eyes. Lost in thought, she wondered if this was really such a good idea. She liked the idea of being a _little_ more comfortable with herself, which she was. She was wearing this dress in public, after all. She was more confident all around lately, and more secure. But she didn't need to prove that to anyone. She bit her lip, trying to remember why she thought this was 'empowering' … because she was choosing to do it. She was allowed to. If she wanted to wear it, she had every right to. She just wasn't sure she wanted to anymore.

Britta and Jeff continued to argue while Troy was silently thinking hard, Abed watched intensely, Shirley clutched her necklace and scrunched her face and Pierce sat with a dopey grin.

Troy sighed sadly, "I still don't get Inception. Something to do with thinking ..."

.

"All I'm saying, is that if you're both comfortable inviting all sorts of dirty fantasies about yourself into the minds and hands of every guy on campus—"

"_Every _guy?" Annie interrupted.

Jeff looked caught for just a moment, but coolly passed it over. "Well not me. Or any of us here. Because we're you're friends—"

"Oh please! Like you don't already," Britta said loudly. "Annie told me how she turned you to the dark side last Christmas."

"Britta!" Annie stood up, blushing and not looking at Jeff's equally embarrassed face. "This was a bad idea. I'm going to find a costume from the drama department, I'll be back in a few minutes."

.

"Jeff! People have the right to think whatever they want about me. I really don't care. If they think of me while doing that, then they're thinking of a strong, woman and that is fine with me." Britta said finally, crossing her arms and sitting down.

Jeff rolled his eyes. He couldn't deny Britta was strong, or that women had all the power, or that the only reason he was arguing was because he didn't want perverts looking at Annie in next to nothing. He counted himself as one of those perverts. He didn't want to see her like that. Well … he did, but - 'Ugh,' he thought, 'Britta's the worst.'

.

* * *

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_ Not sure how I feel about the last bit. Please tell me what you think, it would make my day :)_

_._

_I DO like Britta! She's not the worst! (I actually think there is a conspiracy to make a character who cares about the environment/humanity/is against big corporations (i.e. NBC) seem annoying and like it's great to gang up on her... but anyway)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks everyone who reviewed! :) I wanted it to seem like an episode and have Jeff not say much or argue until Britta showed up. Their bickering is just too fun, though it's definitely a Jeff/Annie story._

_This chapter is a bit different. It kind of got away from me and developed a life of its own … but there is an epic winger speech to look forward to. Enjoy!_

* * *

Annie stood in the costume closet in the drama department looking at a messy array of masks, dresses, boa's, shoes and props. She didn't know quite what had come over her. Just walking into the room she had felt too exposed. Even walking down the hall she got ogled and found it wasn't as nice as she had thought it would be.

As she considered some of the costumes she came across the Santa outfit from last Christmas and remembered it with a smile. It was actually pretty amazing to be so persuasive over someone who was so often the persuader with so much influence over other people. She hardly even had to try, just use a little bit of something that he never saw from her. Why wasn't she so confident now? Aside from not being brainwashed, she didn't know.

There came a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in,"

Britta hurried in and looked at her with a little sigh. "Don't let Jeff make you feel bad for doing what you want. He can't tell you what to wear."

"Maybe _I _don't want to wear it."

"It was your idea!" Britta leaned against the door for a moment. "And it is a fantastic one. Do you remember what you said to me to convince me it was?"

"That women should be able to wear whatever they want without fear of harassment or judgement, and it's not fair that if a woman dresses a certain way, she's judged and stereotyped."

"Exactly."

"Yes, and I still believe that! I just … I don't like that sort of attention. I didn't realize how much of it I would get, and I don't like it."

"That's giving them all the power, Annie."

She sighed, crossing her arms. "It's not if I just don't want to show so much skin."

"What's the difference between this dress and anything else you wear? A cardigan?" Britta asked.

"I still wear what I want and am strong and empowered. You don't have to show everything to make a point."

"Annie, you are a young woman. There are places women aren't even allowed to show their faces. Or their arms. There are places women are treated no differently than property, our government is trying to tell us what we can and can't do with our own bodies! It's disgusting that —"

"Britta!" Annie groaned.

"No, you need to hear it. You are a woman with emotions and smarts and strength and yes, Annie, sexuality. It's not exploitation or degrading to use that to our advantage. It may just be Halloween and a stupid party at a school that I feel sorry for like it's a baby chick at a corporate farm whose only purpose for living is to become a McDonalds chicken nugget," She took a breath, "But you had a spark inside you and I am not going to let you back down. You need to own your body and not care. So what if guys look at you and whistle? Let them. Don't pay any attention. When they see you being confident and not seeking their approval, like all women should be instead of dressing like this _to get_ attention, they might just take a second to think. They probably won't. But they might."

Annie felt her heart pound just a bit more, it was actually pretty nice to hear Britta be so passionate in such a quiet and understanding way. And it made sense.

"Enjoy the company of our last Halloween here and embrace your freedom for the millions of women who can't!"

.

Britta and Annie walked into the auditorium arm in arm, "I already gave them all crap for you, Annie. They have no right to be so judgemental." She whispered, squeezing her reassuringly as a lot of eyes fell on the pair.

It felt strange at first to be the obvious talking point, but within a few minutes she was dancing with Britta and Abed and even Shirley took her hands and they twirled. Troy came over to dance with her and Annie got the feeling that he wouldn't be trying to dance with Britta, since she would not accept advances (or, 'almost-advances' as she liked to think of them since Troy was Troy) from anyone tonight. And that in itself was empowering for Annie. She saw Jeff leaning against the wall watching them dance, but she didn't make eye contact. She wasn't doing this for Jeff and he could stare all he liked. She didn't _want_ him to stare though.

Actually she kind of did. She wanted him to see her in a new light. He probably wouldn't, like Britta had said, he probably didn't get the message and was looking at her outline and figure and all her skin, but she didn't care. Maybe she wanted that a little too. She felt good, and that's all that mattered.

* * *

Annie walked into the empty study room on the Monday morning following the dance, feeling like a new chapter of her life had begun. She had closed a confusing one with her statement on Friday, and though she felt oddly refreshed, she didn't know exactly which one she was opening now.

"Ah. So your new look isn't permanent?" Jeff said as he sauntered in.

She looked around, surprised, "Why are you here so early?"

"I'm not early, I'm right on time."

Annie rolled her eyes and walked over to her seat. "No. It's not permanent. It was a one time, statement sort of thing that I did for myself." She was wearing a loose fall sweater with a button up underneath and dark tights with one of her longer skirts, she hadn't actively chosen an outfit that was so covered, but she realized then that subconsciously maybe she had. "It doesn't even make a lot of sense to me now, because I think women are more powerful when they don't show everything. But I don't know," She shook her head, "It made sense at the time."

Jeff looked at her curiously, his phone in hand but not paying it any attention. "I'm sure you don't care what I think."

She thought about that for a moment. It might be nice to have a guy's perspective, even though he certainly wasn't objective, but she sighed. "What do you think?"

"I think, I understand where you were coming from on Friday. Why you thought that wearing that made you powerful because you _could_, and in a way it does. I get that. Women should be able to wear what they want. But guys are stupid. Most of the time, we have one thing on our minds, and if you want to be taken seriously, like the strong, intelligent woman that you are …" He paused, choosing his words and avoiding her eyes, "If a female lawyer came in wearing a feminine dress or showing cleavage, no matter how good she was, nobody would take her seriously, not even other women. That's just the way it is. I'm not saying you can't be taken seriously if you show skin or are feminine, only that it's harder. It's harder for you because a) you're a young woman, and guys have superiority complexes, and b) you're a really attractive young woman. When guys first see you they notice your body, and your pretty face, and your doe eyes. And most of the time, that's all they'll notice. But if they get to know you they see that you're really smart. Which intimidates them. Then if they _really_ get know you, they see that you're also sweet and vulnerable and compassionate and powerful, which makes them crazy.

Most guys look for any excuse to knock a woman down who they think might threaten their masculinity – not by being masculine, exactly, but by being confident and making him feel like he has no influence over her." Jeff took a breath but didn't take his eyes off her, "And women, by way of a world shaped by men, have some funny notion of jealousy between them, and the need to compete and judge. I'll tell you Annie, if all the strong women in the world, like you and the lawyers I used to know and even Britta, if everyone got together and got along, it would be a woman's world. Because in the end, all any guy wants is a girl. At first it's a girl, or girl_s_, to sleep with – and as long as there's women out there with low self esteem who let themselves be taken advantage of, guys will keep thinking we have the edge – but deep down, every man wants a good woman to love. Every. One. Of us."

She sat there, in surprise. The man had a way with words. He was looking right at her, honestly and calmly, and it made her heart pound.

"Jeffrey!" Shirley's cooing voice said, snapping them out of their gaze upon each other, "That was lovely,"

Annie looked away as Shirley came over to her seat, and Jeff leaned back in his chair. Throughout his speech, he had progressively straighten up and leaned toward her.

"Yeah, Jeff," Britta said in surprise, "It kinda was." She walked to her spot too. Annie hadn't noticed anyone come in, but Britta and Shirley had obviously been standing behind Jeff listening, and Troy and Abed had appeared in their spots, looking with raised brows at the pair. She felt a little embarrassed, she thought that had been a private moment.

Jeff looked around, also oblivious to their entrances, and cleared his throat. "Yeah, well. It's true." Then he looked down and began playing with his phone.

* * *

_._

_Okay, positive or negative, please please tell me your thoughts! Thanks for the reviews so far, it's so nice to hear what you think :) _

_I don't know where this came from, it just wrote itself. Even I don't know quite how I feel about what Jeff says. It's not me giving Annie advice, it's a male who has the hots for her, of course the way he thinks isn't going to be the same as me. And I'm not Annie, so I wouldn't react or do the same things she does. Mostly I'm concerned with it being in character, and if it makes you think, even better! :) I would highly recommend checking out the **"You Don't Own Me" PSA** (regardless of nationality or gender) to gauge your own views on the subject. Make Britta proud!_

_(__I ended up writing more stuff that follows this, but it's not something that is "realistic" cause it's so focussed on Jeff/Annie. Still, I might post it because it's fluffy and ca-uuuute!)_


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